A Merry Little Christmas
by MadManMatt64
Summary: A small sequel to Unconditional (Formerly Unrequited). Yes, it's Christmas themed, and yes, it's a day early. But please just roll with me on this.


A Merry Little Christmas

Many are the days of the year, but few of them capture such a spirit, or an attitude of pure genially that the holiday known as Christmas conveys. Not everyone celebrates the day, but everyone shares the feelings of joy that surround it, even though they could be a little blatant about it. It is a day of unmarred delights, and unperturbed happiness, without any insidious intent. Well... depending on the person and their intentions anyway.

Many months had passed since Aeris had broken things off with Derick, and gotten together with Leo. He had long since checked out of the hospital and gotten back on his own two feet (Or three, if you count the crutches that he had to use for a while). Ever since, they had found themselves in complete and total bliss, free of any kind of melancholy. Sure, some things got in the way, such as Leo's empty mind, and Aeris's occasional mean intentions, but that never stopped them from enjoying themselves. This lead to what they could consider to have been the best Christmas they had ever had.

A fake tree was standing vigil in the living room, shining its bright, multicolored lights, a few of which had become defunct due to old age, yet it still stood upright, and in the end, that was all that mattered to the couple sleeping in the apartment. Well, one of them was sleeping anyway. Leo was wide awake inside the living room, just waiting for the morning to come, and for Aeris to wake up. He kept looking back between the disarray underneath the tree, a sense of both dread and anticipation pervading his body. Honestly, he had no idea as to why he was waiting out here for her, when he could just be waiting in bed with her until they were both ready to get up. But then again, he was just weird like that.

He waited there until finally, he heard a sound from the bedroom. And after a moment, there was Aeris, rubbing her eyes sleepily and yawn. He stood up and closed the gap between them and said, "Hey Aeris. Good morning."

Aeris yawned again, "Morning, Leo... Merry Christmas."

He smiled and said, "Merry Christmas. So, wanna open up some presents?"

"Maybe later Leo... I just wanna eat something first..."

Leo became incredulous, "What? Why not? You love getting presents!"

Aeris raised an eyebrow, "...Is there a reason why you want me to open presents?", she speculated.

"No!", Leo said trying to keep an air of ambiguity.

Aeris then sighed. He never could lie very well, and instead of making this hard on herself, she said, "Alright Leo, I'll open your presents."

He smiled again, "Awesome! You'll love it!"

She rolled her eyes and smiled at Leo's cheery attitude. That was just a small part that she loved about his attitude, even though it could be annoying on occasion. Still, she loved it just the same, even though she was slightly skeptical about the supposed loveliness of the gift.

As the walked into the living room, Leo started talking, "Hey Aeris, how long have we been together now?"

Aeris rolled her eyes, "Since elementary school."

"I mean... TOGETHER, together.", he clarified.

"Oh!", she said, realizing her mistake, slightly embarrassed. Still, she thought about it for a moment before saying, "Well... about a year I guess."

He seemed slightly surprised, "Wow. Time flies, huh?"

"I know right? Seems like just yesterday you got hit by that car, huh?"

Leo rubbed his shoulder, "Don't remind me... I'm still sore from that..."

Aeris cringed, "Sorry."

"It's fine.", he said, "Anyway... like you said we've known each other for way longer than that. Like, ever since we were kids. So... would you say that we've known each other for like... forever?"

Aeris raised her eyebrow again, seeing as how Leo was trying to be profound. Granted, he was too naïve to be profound, but still, it was something.

So, in the living room, Leo picked something up from beneath the tree, and said, "Aeris... jeez, I just don't know how to say this..."

"Leo, just spit it out. It can't be that hard."

He shook his head, "It is though... I don't know how you'll react."

Aeris suddenly became suspicious again, "Why? What is it?"

Well...", he revealed a tiny box from behind his back, "Just... take a guess at this point."

Aeris's eyes widened. It was... she knew what it was automatically, any person would. The box was small, made of black velvet. Not to mention it was being presented to her by the man that she loved.

Leo continued, "Yeah... I guess you know what it is... so, I just gotta ask right now.", he opened the box, "Will you marry me?"

She could never have said yes fast enough.


End file.
